2 Different pairs of speakers OK?

Hi all, Just wondering if I get a new soundcard (probably the SBLive), would it work good if I just bought a pair of speakers for the rear channel and kept my existing speakers up front? Is it better to buy a 4-speaker system so that all are the same type? Also, how much improvement can I expect in GPL from a SB16 with 2 speakers to a SBLive with 4? Thank you for your time and advice, Ryan

Hi Ryan, I own a sblive since a few months now, but I never took the time to look at all the possibilities of the card. Until I read a post on RAS a few days ago that the sound gets so much better with 4 speakers. So I bought 2 extra speakers, plugged them in, and it was great great great. Last night I experimented with the Enviromental Audio settings. With this you can change the sound as if you are in a different enviroment, and there are many preset environments which you can choose from. You can make your own environments but I didn't try that yet, Ok, so last night I chose the enviroment '3D games - racing game' and WOW!!!!! It sounded to unbelievable fantastic, the engines howled and screamed, the sound got so much more volume, I really liked it. I have installed other sound engines than the original sounds by the way, look on the Eagle Womans site for a link to Patrick's car sounds. I don't know if an out of the box 4 speaker set is better than 2 single sets. But I have 2 single sets with a subwoofer, and it's fantastic. Andre

You can use any combination of speakers you want. I have my old set in front and a new set with subwoofer in the rear. Make yourself a custom profile and you'll love it. JM

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> Hi all, > Just wondering if I get a new soundcard (probably the SBLive), would it work > good if I just bought a pair of speakers for the rear channel and kept my > existing speakers up front? Is it better to buy a 4-speaker system so that > all are the same type? Also, how much improvement can I expect in GPL from > a SB16 with 2 speakers to a SBLive with 4? > Thank you for your time and advice, > Ryan

Parts is parts... speakers are speakers. It doesn't mater what speaker combination you have. You could have a 1" tweeter for the RF, a 5" mid range for the LF, a 10"base for the RR, and a 500" for the LR. It wont sound good, but you could do it. Mike Barlow

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> You can use any combination of speakers you want. I have my old set in front and > a new set with subwoofer in the rear. Make yourself a custom profile and you'll > love it. > JM > > Hi all, > > Just wondering if I get a new soundcard (probably the SBLive), would it work > > good if I just bought a pair of speakers for the rear channel and kept my > > existing speakers up front? Is it better to buy a 4-speaker system so that > > all are the same type? Also, how much improvement can I expect in GPL from > > a SB16 with 2 speakers to a SBLive with 4? > > Thank you for your time and advice, > > Ryan

-- ========================================= Mike Barlow of Barlow Racing? ========================================= Member of R.O.R. 1999 http://www.pivot.net/~marknjess/ror.html ========================================= Racing online with the help of...... Race Communications Association http://members.xoom.com/RCA/toc.html Holodyne Engineering Mystic Music (have Your !!Name/Address!! placed here) mikeba.vcf < 1K Download

I run Bostons Digital's at the front and some excellent Logic 3's at the back. No problems as long as you ensure the front speakers are of reasonable quality. P.S. For games I really recommend you get the MX300. A3D is superior to EAX and the MX300 does both. The SB Live won't do A3D. Do yourself a favor and listen to Half Life on both. There is no comparison! P.P.S I have both so I am giving an unbiased view.

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> Hi all, > Just wondering if I get a new soundcard (probably the SBLive), would it work > good if I just bought a pair of speakers for the rear channel and kept my > existing speakers up front? Is it better to buy a 4-speaker system so that > all are the same type? Also, how much improvement can I expect in GPL from > a SB16 with 2 speakers to a SBLive with 4? > Thank you for your time and advice, > Ryan

When I last checked, six months ago, the MX300 didn't support WinNT... which made my decision obvious ;-) Scott

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> I run Bostons Digital's at the front and some excellent Logic 3's at the back. > No problems as long as you ensure the front speakers are of reasonable quality. > P.S. For games I really recommend you get the MX300. A3D is superior to EAX and > the MX300 does both. The SB Live won't do A3D. Do yourself a favor and listen to > Half Life on both. There is no comparison! > P.P.S I have both so I am giving an unbiased view. > > Hi all, > > Just wondering if I get a new soundcard (probably the SBLive), would it work > > good if I just bought a pair of speakers for the rear channel and kept my > > existing speakers up front? Is it better to buy a 4-speaker system so that > > all are the same type? Also, how much improvement can I expect in GPL from > > a SB16 with 2 speakers to a SBLive with 4? > > Thank you for your time and advice, > > Ryan